Happiness

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Speak With Kindness: How Your Words Literally Restructure Your Brain. The words you choose to use can literally change your brain.

Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University, and Mark Robert Waldman, a communications expert, collaborated on the book, “Words Can Change Your Brain.” In it, they write, “a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.” When we use words filled with positivity, like “love” and “peace”, we can alter how our brain functions by increasing cognitive reasoning and strengthening areas in our frontal lobes. Using positive words more often than negative ones can kick-start the motivational centers of the brain, propelling them into action. On the opposite end of the spectrum, when we use negative words, we are preventing certain neuro-chemicals from being produced which contribute to stress management.

An excerpt from their book tells us how using the *right* words can literally change our reality: What words do you choose to focus your energy on?
5 Questions to Discover Who You Are and What Will Make You Happy. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

~E.E. Cummings At twenty-five I was happily married and had a great career, many friends, and lots of money. During that time, I also became deeply depressed, was put on medication for anxiety, and entered what would be a very long relationship with psychotherapy. It was a real struggle for me to understand why I wasn’t happy when I had everything that I thought was important in life. When I look back at my life, twenty years later, I realize that I really had no idea who I truly was or what made me happy. The journey to find out who I was and what really mattered to me eventually involved divorce, the loss of my career and most of my possessions, and overcoming a serious illness. It pretty much took the loss of everything I thought defined me and made me happy to admit to myself that I honestly didn’t know myself very well at all. Who am I? The hardest part for me was just knowing where to begin. 1.
Rewire Your Brain for Positive Thinking. I have a challenge for you.

From today, from this minute, for the next seven days, you are to think only kind or positive thoughts. The end of last year, I was on a two-weeks QI Gong retreat in New Zealand with a wonderful teacher Yuan Tze from the Yuan Tze Center. I do this annually, because during these retreats I always learn more about myself and this results in making positive changes to my life. This year the focus for me was becoming aware of my thinking.

I know that sounds odd as we all think we know what we are thinking all the time. It was a very useful exercise to notice just how I was thinking about everything and how my body was responding to those thoughts. I made a decision to think only kind and positive thoughts from then on. The first step is to become aware of your thoughts -- observe and assess them -- you may realize you are being controlled by a series of unconscious habitual patterns of thinking. Now I catch myself if I am complaining about anything and say.
How to Reset Your Happiness Set Point. This Is Scientific Proof That Happiness Is A Choice. One theory in psychology research suggests that we all have a happiness "set-point" that largely determines our overall well-being.

We oscillate around this set point, becoming happier when something positive happens or the opposite, afterwards returning to equilibrium. But this set-point, to a certain extent, can be reset. Although our general mood levels and well-being are partially determined by factors like genetics and upbringing, roughly 40 percent of our happiness is within our control, according to some experts, and a large body of research in the field of positive psychology has shown that happiness is a choice that anyone can make. As psychologist William James put it, “The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude.
" Here are eight ways you can take control of your own happiness. Simply try. A little effort can go a long way in increasing happiness. Make happiness your number-one goal. Linger on those little, positive moments.